The start signal was a meeting of 500 staff from sales and marketing on the island of Crete in the spring of 2001. Small groups worked on over 100 laptop computers. Using nextmoderator atmospheric pictures of the issues relevant to change were developed. Over the course of several brainstorming sessions, the participants entered ideas, measures and criticisms directly into the laptops. These entries were instantly mad available to all involved for direcl prioritisation. The system acted as a stock market: well supported suggestions or objections were on a high. Individual opinions dropped. In the course of several cycles, Altana's employees derived a catalogue of actions for the near future. 

ITERATIVE ANALYSIS OF SUCCESS

One year later, after a phase of practical implementation, the interview tool nextexpertizer was used to survey some 100 Altana managers about how they assessed the implementation of the agreed catalogue of actions. The open treatment of the participants' opinions and criticisms regarding the performance of the various departments and managers constituted the survey's main focus.
 
"We, the management team, faced the criticism head on", Dr. Lothar Bösch reported. "If you want to bring about change, this is something you have to endure."

"Liberating blow"

Managing Director Dr. Lothar Bösch was delighted with the "Spirit of Crete", "It was akin to a liberating blow for the sales team. But the actual effect of the initial conference was more long-term".
 
The liberation of in-house strengths

Altana's management noticed an enormous development within its staff in the year following the conference on Crete. They now experienced the will to succeed and set clear goals as company strengths. "The process set free enormous creativity", Bösch summarises. "Professor Kruse and the nextpractice team didn't provide the ideas, they supplied the tools. The impulses subsequently came from within the organisation itself - made possible thanks to transparency and the involvement of employees. The so found new company values will most definitely be maintained on an ongoing basis."
 
Involvement creates a future

In April 2003, nextpractice once more networked 500 Altana employees - this time on Sardinia - with 120 laptop computers.

Form the process of integration professionally.

"I would recommend to other units that they implement nextexpertizer for similar problems. Because in comparison to other procedures, such as deep analyses and structured surveys, this method is a real alternative."
(Dr. Bernhard Rosenberger, Head of Human Resources of the new Detecon International GmbH)

THE CHALLENGE

As of 1st July 2002, the consultancy companies Diebold and Detecon were merged into T-Systems' subsidiary Detecon International GmbH. Both consulting firms were characterised by different client structures and organisational forms. The peculiarities of the two companies had to be made visible in order to be able to formulate joint tasks and goals.

Collect and analyse the employees' opinions
"It was necessary at the beginning of the integration process to gather the various perceptions and attitudes of the staff. This was the fundamental requirement in order to deduce the correct steps and measures."

THE SOLUTION

The merger of the two companies was supported by the "cultural analysis tooll" nextexpertizer. nextexpertizer proved to be a "seismograph for processes of change" for the Development Strategy and Corporate Culture (DSC) department at the company's headquarters. By way of individual interviews lasting about an hour, the employees' intuitive ideals and perceptions were gathered and evaluated.

External perception and self-perception analysis
Dr. Bernhard Rosenberger, Head of Human Resources of the new Detecon International GmbH, describes the results that surprised him:
"I would like to highlight the different external and self-perceptions of the two original companies. We were able to recognise in which aspects the employees from the previous companies differed to one another, but we could also see where the foundations of common ground lay."

Five main subjects concerned both groups of employees: future orientation, management, market presence, organisation and decision-making competence. Within these subject dimensions, the Diebold and Detecon employees showed a sophisticated picture of joint and different perceptions and ideals.

The management discussed the results in workshops. Definite measures were agreed regarding the implementation of the integration process.

RESULTS / COMMENTS

For Dr. Bernhard Rosenfelder, the support of the nextexpertizer tool during the structural development was convincing for three reasons::

The high level of acceptancy of the analyses in a consultancy firm with strong links to IT through the application of an IT-aided technique.

The possibility to carry out the interviews after a brief preparation period in a very narrow timespan. Initial results were available just one month after selection of the tool.

The flexibility of the assessment possibilities.

Improvement of communication during the merger
"The cultural analysis tool 'nextexpertizer' has provided target-orientated support for the integration process. It made clear the areas for improvement and has highlighted fields of action that serve as guidelines. The results are supporting us in the improvement of the all-important communication during a merger."
(Quote from 'dialog', Deutsche Telekom staff magazine 6/2002).

Integrate staff successfully during cultural changes.

"Whether a company is successful in the future depends more and more on its ability to change and the speed at which it does so. Whether or not the employees help to carry out the change is the decisive factor."
(Gabriele Hahn-Löhrmann, Human Resources Development at Deutsche Telekom)

THE CHALLENGE

Ever since privatisation of Deutsche Bundespost, the new Deutsche Telekom has faced enormous processes of change. The Development Strategy and Corporate Culture (DSC) department at company headquarters knew:
"It is critical for success to check whether the people within the company are still moving in the direction planned. You can only act properly and with focus if you can visualise where managers and staff are in the change and what moves them."

But how can "soft factors" be made measurable - and therefore visible?

THE SOLUTION

Within Deutsche Telekom, the Human Resources Development department at the company's headquarters had the "Create the future" integration project team T-Systems and the Twin:go integration project to deal with the initial question.

Make intuitive knowledge visible and therefore tangible
During the phase of upheaval, the nextpractice nextexpertizer interview and analysis tool was implemented throughout the organisation in order to make a cultural analysis. Deutsche Telekom gave the following reasons for their choice:
"The strongest motor in processes of change is the individual with his/her opinions and attitudes. These are like diamonds. They form slowly, are very resilient, consist of a sum of different individual experiences and so become 'intuitive knowledge' that guides the actions of the individual, the group and the organisation."

Individual statements
nextexpertizer combines the advantages of freely-conducted interviews with the comparability of standardised questionnaires. Pre-formulated answers are unnecessary. Subjective statements and opinions are gathered and assessed.
"The required information is gathered by way of the comparison of elements. They are described individually and anonymously by those surveyed, using personal impressions and words. This produces a picture, with which one can actually see the core of a matter from all sides."

THE RESULTS

Using the nextexpertizer-analysis, Deutsche Telekom gains a clear picture of how group-internal change processes were really perceived from the point of view of the managers surveyed. The anonymity of the collation of information ensures the desired openness.

Validation of the results
Each person interviewed validates the results of his/her interview by way of personal feedback:
"When all aspects are gathered, the interviewees receive a compilation of their assessment directly after the interview. They can then check their statements and amend them if necessary."

New quality in the evaluation
Deutsche Telekom was also impressed by the ability of the technique to cluster the sheer mass and complexity of the answers and to process them both optically and analytically:
"This type of survey also makes possible a new quality of evaluation. The sophisticated, qualitative statements are combined with comparability of purely quantitative questionnaires and the results are graphically presented in three dimensions or are assessed linguistically."
(Quote from 'dialog', Deutsche Telekom staff magazine 6/2002)